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PNS Daily Newscast - March 21, 2019

The nation’s acting Defense Secretary is under investigation for promoting Boeing, his former employer. Also on the Thursday rundown: The Trump administration’s spending blueprint being called a “bully budget.” Plus, a call for the feds to protect consumers from abusive lenders.

Endangered Species Act: To Bee or Not to Bee

The rusty patched bumble bee used to be common in parts of the state, but has seen its population plummet in recent years. Credit: Rich Hatfield/The Xerces Society

September 28, 2015

BISMARCK, N.D. - Protections could be on the way for a bumblebee that used to be commonly found in parts of North Dakota and across the Upper Midwest but is now threatened with extinction.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just begun a year-long review to determine if an Endangered Species Act listing is warranted for the rusty patched bumble bee.

Sarina Jepsen, endangered species program director with The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, says the bee is facing a number of threats, including habitat loss, pesticides and diseases passed on from commercially managed bumblebees.

"There's quite a bit of concern among people who study bumblebees," she says. "That commercial bumblebees are spreading diseases to wild bumblebees and that is leading to their decline."

Jepsen says the rusty patched bumble bee has disappeared from 87 percent of its historic range and even where it still does exist, its populations are as much as 95 percent smaller than they were just a few decades ago.

Jepsen says the rusty patched bumblebee is an excellent pollinator of wildflowers and numerous crops, including apple and alfalfa. She notes the push for their listing comes as the federal government is looking to protect bees and other pollinators like the monarch butterfly.

"Earlier this year, the White House released a strategy to protect native bees, honey bees and monarch butterflies," says Jepsen. "The attention from the White House that has been given to pollinators has been really great for native pollinator conservation."

The National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators is focused on protecting, restoring and enhancing their habitat.